Carrot Pulp Cake, Part I

I imagine this article will be the first in a series. Tina recently started juicing carrots for fresh juice (this was something she used to do often), and we've been enjoying the crisp, sweet taste of carrot juice. But, it feels wasteful to dispose of all the carrot pulp left over. We don't have even a small yard and we have more pulp than my small window box of herbs can handle as compost, so Tina suggested carrot cake. I readily agreed and started pondering the problem of creating a moist carrot cake from nearly dry carrot pulp.

I started with the standard pound of carrots, except I used carrot pulp from that day's juicing. I thought I'd try this amount since the juice contains a great deal of flavor. I was hoping that by replacing the lost water weight with more pulp, I could produce a strong carrot flavor in the final cake.

I also used an 8 oz. can of crushed pineapples (packaged in its pineapple juice) and drained the juices, pressing down with a spoon to release as much juice as possible. I chose pineapples because I like the taste of pineapples and thought they would introduce a decent amount of liquid to the cake. (It turns out, pineapple has too much juice and the flavor doesn't come through very well.)

Then, I drizzled the canola oil in while the mixer was running. Watch the speed of the mixer or it could fling oil across your kitchen. Other vegetable oils can be used, but I wouldn't recommend using a strongly flavored oil like extra virgin olive.

Once the oil was integrated into the eggs and sugar to form a kind of drippy mayonnaise, I sifted the flour, salt & spices, baking soda and powder together and added them to the mixing bowl. I then placed the crushed pineapple and carrot pulp into the mixing bowl as well. I noticed some of my carrot pulp had clumped up, so I did my best to separate the clumps before adding them to the mixing bowl.

I mixed everything together until no more dry flour could be seen. By this time, the carrots and pineapple were thoroughly distributed.

I poured the batter into a 9x13 in. pan that I had prepared earlier by buttering the bottom and sides, affixing a piece of parchment paper to the bottom (cut to size), and buttering the parchment paper.

The cake was then baked on the center rack of a 350°F oven for 40 minutes. I rotated the cake once after 20 min. and checked to see if it was done by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. When the cake was fully cooked, the toothpick came out clean. I let it cool completely on a cooling rack.

After the cake had been cooling for about two hours, I prepared a simple cream cheese frosting with 8 oz. cream cheese (not the whipped variety), 1-1/4 cup confectioners sugar (also called powdered sugar or icing sugar), 5 Tbs. butter, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. (Again, almost the same ingredients as Baking Illustrated. If you're making "normal" carrot cake, I recommend the recipe from Baking Illustrated, which I why I started with their ingredient set and proportions for this test.)

Running the four ingredients in my mixer (after cleaning the bowl) until blended, gave me a smooth, sweet but tangy frosting. I removed the cake from the pan by inverting it onto another sheet pan. I then removed the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake (which was now facing up), and then placed an inverted sheet pan over the cake (so the bottom of the pan was facing up). Flipping both pans over and removing the first one, gave me a carrot cake in good condition and right side up sitting on a sheet pan waiting to be frosted. I used an offset spatula to smear the frosting over the cake.

The final cake had a nice strong carrot flavor complimented by an excellent combination of spices. What it was missing was any distinctive taste of pineapple. When you chewed on the pineapple bits, the flavor was barely discernible and the texture was mushy. The interior of the cake was a bit too moist (while the outer pieces were just right), but not yet soggy. One taste tester described the center piece as gooey in consistency - she liked the flavors however. My feeling is that although the water had been extracted from the carrots, Tina's juicer left enough liquid to keep a carrot cake from becoming too dry. The addition of more liquid is probably necessary, but not in the quantities provided by well-drained crushed pineapples. I think next time I'll try a cup of raisins.}?>

Aaargh! Want to make this sooo bad, but just discovered my son and I have celiac disease. Still having trouble adjusting all the baked goods to work without wheat. Bread slices look like pagodas and dissolve into crumbs. One tray of cookies is fine, the other burnt wafers. Don't think I can take this lovely cake on just yet!

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, an anonymous reader said...

To the previous AC: Actually carrot cakes should work quite well with gluten free flour mixes, because the carrots retain moisture and maybe add a bit of stability (both normally achieved by the gluten).

Good luck with your baking experiments, be sure to be quite precise (and don't use cups, go by weight!).

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, an anonymous reader said...

Thanks for the timely recipe. I received a juicer for Christmas and was thinking that throwing the pulp out seemed wasteful. I had thought of carrot cake, but had not yet got around to trying to adapt a recipe - I will give your advice a try.

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, an anonymous reader said...

How about "Potage Crécy" or more commonly known as carrot soup?

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, an anonymous reader said...

I have made both muffins, scones and carrot cake (banana bread, lemon cake etc) with gluten free flour and it works just fine.
As for the recipe itself, I tried it, and it is GREAT!! One point I would mention is to add the carrots first after the oil, and add the dry ingredients all at once, right at the end.
Once the dry ingredients have been added, stop the machine and gently mix by hand, for a few seconds. too much mixing at this point will develop the gluten in the flour and result in a heavier, denser, cake. Enjoy
Suki Maman

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, Pink Poppy (guest) said...

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On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, Patti (guest) said...

Great idea. You're too young to remember the old recipe for tomato soup cake, but a can of good tomato soup would make a possible substitution for the liquid lost in the carrots. Other possibilities might be tomato or V8 juice. Watch for the high sodium content common in these canned items if this is a health concern.

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, an anonymous reader said...

I found your site while looking for a "raw-egg free" Tiramisu and then while exploring, saw the way you've recorded your carrot cake recipe. Is your program for writing down recipes in graph format readily available as a software program for sale? Or let me guess from the title of the Web site- you developed it yourself...

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, Michael Chu said...

re: recipe summary notation

The recipes summaries at the end of my recipe articles are my own invention. Currently there is no software available to aid in the construction of these diagrams. I have been working with a laywer to formalize and file patent paperwork for the notation system.

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, innoi (guest) said...

at last, a person who writes their recipes in almost the same style i do, and about time, too. (and i mean the way you list your ingredients and order of processing next to it.)
as for the longwinded descriptions, i do that too because i want to make sure that when my children want to replicate one of my recipes, they will be able to, techniquewise....now all i have to do is work out hot to do this in the pc and i'll be right.
i have a very good recipe for pineapple carrot cake where you don't drain the pineapple syrup, if you are interested (i won't post it here because this is your site and i don't want to be offensive on my first visit).

Try changing the cheese cream with a chocolate cream. It's more caloric, but who cares when eating a delicious cake?
I have made this cake with chocolate cream for years and all my friends love it!

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, an anonymous reader said...

Hello,
This cake is really gorgeous. I used a 280g tin of pineapple chunks and put them through my juicer and added the juice from the tin as well. Perhaps half the juice would have been better. I have a small oven, so I baked the cake for 30 minutes, then put a piece of tin foil loosely over the top to prevent the cake baking too hard. After 40 minutes, it was still a little soggy in the middle, so I turned the oven down one 'notch' and baked it for a further 15 minutes. Perfect. Thank you. no more rubbery carrot pulp cakes for me.! !

On January 15, 2005 at 12:41 PM, an anonymous reader said...

I make carrot cake from rehydrated carrots. The texture is probably similar to the juicer pulp. I use equal measure of granulated sugar and brown sugar for a richer flavor. Omit the pineapple.

One last commnet -- try using Fiori Di Sicilia Essence in the cream cheese frosting. It is available on-line. The aroma and flavor are a mixture of citrus, flower, and vanilla.

On November 30, 2007 at 10:34 AM, ijoemonkey (guest) said...

Subject: some notes

when i was 8 i used to wake up early and peel and grate carrots so that my mom would make me carrot cake.

I don't know where her recipe has gone, but I do remember that pineapple juice was used (perhaps simply NOT squeezing it out and also including maybe 4 Tbsp) in the cake and some juice in the creamcheese frosting.

Also, like somebody else mentioned, used to add carrots and blend to the egg/oil/sugar mixture BEFORE the flour.

Also wanted to say thank you for your detailed experimentation on the chocolate chip cookie! It really helped when adapting japanese ingredients to the old american fave!

On December 04, 2007 at 09:33 PM, Larry Caruso (guest) said...

Subject: Pulp carrot cake

great ! I added walnuts and pinned pricked raisons soaked in rum to the batter and put the pineapple in the frosting ....Delicious! Also added some butter used splenda and increased baking time to 60 minutes .
although I kept the pineapple in the batter next time I'm going to try it with the pineapple in the icing only.If you soak raisons you can vacuum pack them with the rum to speed up infusion. thanks much, now I have to go put on some extra weight.

On May 17, 2008 at 09:04 PM, GaryProtein said...

That recipe sounds delicious. I have to wait to try it at my next special occasion. If I drank all that healthy fresh carrot juice on a regular basis, I would gain weight having to "dispose" of all the pulp in those cakes!! :lol: :lol:

On June 03, 2008 at 03:42 PM, an anonymous reader said...

Subject: I made this

I made this with the following changes and it was REALLY good. Actually so good that i am going to make it again but with nuts. .... it really seemed to be missing the nuts.

These are my changes.

2 cups of carrot apple pulp tightly packed (this was rather moist as i had the granny smiths in there with the skins)

no cloves- i dont like them or their flavor

no oil- used apple sauce instead

2 cups of plain white sugar - didnt have any brown

I baked this in a bunt pan for about 90 min at 250ish - but i have a small oven so i always lower the heat significantly because things tend to burn.

Overall result- SUPER MOIST cake, not gooeye or anything, it was fully done and a quite dense. I actually enjoy it with lightly sweetened sour cream on my piece- not frosting but just some sweetened sour cream, the tanginess plays really well with the sweetness of the cake.

Next time i am putting in lots of nuts.

Thank you for sharing this as i always felt bad throwing out my pulp

On June 26, 2008 at 06:25 PM, chefkatcobb (guest) said...

Subject: Carrot Pulp Cake

I made this using pulp from Carrot, Spinach, Beet, Celery, Cucumber. Since that is the juice I make everyday for me and the kids. I used fresh pineapple instead of canned, and made the Frosting from Toffuti Cream Cheese. I also added some shredded carrots for texture.

Then Baked them in cupcake pan so my kids would eat them as well as a good portion control. 375 for 30 minutes

IT WAS GREAT!!!! Thank you for this recipe to build off off! Love it.

Do you have any other recipes using pulp from the juicer????? If yes send them my way Please...
Thanks,
Chef Kathleen Cobb
Cheers2GoodHealth.com
Chef24Kat@Cheers2GoodHealth.com

On December 16, 2008 at 02:27 AM, an anonymous reader said...

Subject: Supplementing fluid loss

Instead of pineapple pulp, you can probably add apple juice to replace the fluid lost from juicing

On February 27, 2009 at 05:36 PM, beadaholic (guest) said...

Subject: the Carrot Pulp cake!

The bundt pan is the best way I think to cook this, I just made it and the center part is still uncooked. With a Bundt pan I think it would be narrow enough to cook all the way through. I have eaten one of the corners of mine and it is very good! My pulp has mostly carrots, but also some cucumber, and some pineapple pulp, I figure it doesn't matter really. I also used small chunk pineapple instead and did not crush it, I just scooped it out of the big can until I figure I had 1/2 of the can in there. I am not one of those people who cook with exact measurements. I probably should have let is mix less in my mixer as well, it would have been better I am sure, but I am pretty happy with it. The pulp I saved in the refri for a few days until I had enough. Otherwise no changes and no frosting, it is already very sweet!

On March 02, 2009 at 02:15 PM, beadaholic said...

I continued to cook the cake loner at a lower temp until done in the center, it is all gone now, and we are making another one, and it is similar, although time time it has left over pulp from beets, apples and carrots. I decided to throw in two overripe bananas too, plus some peacans. Next time I think I will add in some coconut and possibly some chocolate chips. I added this time Ginger to the mix as well. Can't be spicey enough for me. Anyway, the trick is to cook it at a lower temp for a longer period of time especially if you do not have a bundt pan. I don't add in the frosting either, no need unless you want to have a diabetic attack. hehe, enough with the sweetness of the fruit, veggies....and the already added sugar. It is a dense moist cake that is delicious. I think just about any pulp will do.

On October 16, 2009 at 08:10 PM, Rhonda Bates (guest) said...

Subject: Carrot Pulp Cake

HI, I TRIED YOUR CARROT PULP CAKE AND MADE A FEW CHANGES. INSTEAD OF SUGAR I USED 1/2 CUP GRANULATED SATIVA AND 3/4 CUP AGAVE. NO SUGAR!!! 1 CUP OLIVE OIL [ IT DID NOT OVERPOWER THE FLAVOR] AND 4 CUPS OF CARROT PULP. NO PINEAPPLE OR RAISONS.
FOR THE FROSTING I USED ONE BLOCK OF CREAM CHEESE 5 TABLESPOONS BUTTER 1/2 TSP OF VANILLA. TWO INDIVIDUAL SIZE SERVINGS OF SATIVA AND A DASH OF AGAVE. IT IS PLENTY SWEET. EVERYTHING ELSE WAS THE SAME. I GOT THE SATIVA BY EMPTYING A WHOLE BOX OF INDIVIDUAL PACKETS LESS TWO I USED FOR THE FROSTING. MY HUSBAND AND I AGREE IT IS THE BEST CAKE I EVER COOKED! I COOKED IT AT 350 FOR 40 MIN AND IT WAS NOT SOGGY OR UNDERCOOKED, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! AND VERY MOIST!
THANKS FOR YOUR INSPIRATION!!!

On October 29, 2009 at 10:38 AM, mollie (guest) said...

Subject: ADJUSTMENT FOR CELIACS

I actually modified this recipe to be gluten free!!! It was amazing!!!!! To get a a good GF Flour ratio mix

kindly inform the alternative vegitarian item to eggs as i dot eat eggs,WHILE USING THE PULP

On October 25, 2012 at 08:39 PM, loriw227 (guest) said...

Subject: carrot cake

I too juice, and I just usually save a little of the juice to add back to the cake batter. It does not take much. I also add 1 to2 tablespoons of honey. It keeps almost anything from being too dry.

I use the same receipe for carrot muffins to take to work. I just don't frost them and it saves you a bundle of calories, but they are still better than store bought muffins, even without the frosting.